Trio of Players Championship leaders aiming for redemption
Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley share the lead after the first round of the Players Championship, while Rory McIlroy sits just two shots behind.
A week after Ryder Cup partner Francesco Molinari hoisted a trophy on the PGA Tour, the other half of Team “Moliwood” is in a good position to do the same this week at the Players Championship.
Tommy Fleetwood shot the lowest opening round of his PGA Tour career on Thursday at TPC Sawgrass, beginning the Players Championship with a seven-under 65 to take a share of the lead with Keegan Bradley. Starting the round on 10th hole, Fleetwood made six birdies on his second-nine, including holing a 29-foot putt for birdie at the eighth and an 18-footer for birdie at the ninth to finish his round.
Bradley, meanwhile, shot five-under on his front-nine. punctuating his start with an eagle at the par-five 16th after hitting his approach from 234 yards to within 12 feet.
This is the second straight week Fleetwood and Bradley have found themselves tied atop the leaderboard. They shared the 36-hole lead last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bradley, though, shot 75-78 on the weekend to finish in 46th place. Fleetwood followed up his second round 66 by shooting four-over 76 on Saturday, finishing in a tie for third and three shots behind Molinari as the Englishman continues to search for his first win on the PGA Tour.
“It was just one of those rounds where me and [Bradley] were both struggling and it just got the wrong side of things,” Fleetwood told Golf Channel on Thursday. “But I kept trying. Birdied the last and then came back the next day. I was a couple putts shy of Frankie. It’s difficult putting four rounds of golf together. It’s a long time.”
Fleetwood tied for seventh in only his second Players Championship appearance last year, shooting under-par in all four rounds. Another solid round on Thursday has him admitting TPC Sawgrass is a course that suits his strengths.
“I drove it great today. That’s kind of the key to my game and that’s where my strengths usually lie,” he said. “And it’s a great golf course. It’s honestly one of the fairest but toughest tests that you could get. But if you play well, you know, you can score.”
Two shots behind Fleetwood and Bradley is a name that’s becoming familiar near the top of leaderboards. Rory McIlroy began his round getting up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie at the par-five 11th. He added two more birdies on his first-nine and another two on the back to shoot a bogey-free 67.
McIlroy, though, admits he let some opportunities to go even lower slip by. He missed a four-footer for birdie at 16, then failed to get up-and-down from 41 yards on the ninth. “It sort of summed up the day,” he said after his round about that disappointing par. “I felt like I left a few out there.”
The slower conditions that came with the Players Championship moving to March clearly suited McIlroy’s game on Thursday. He hit 10 of 14 fairways, using driver more often than in past years when the event was played in May. He had three straight top-10s at the Players from 2013 to 2015 but missed the cut here last year.
McIlroy is also coming off his own disappointing weekend at Bay Hill. He was a shot off the lead going into the final round, but could only manage even-par on Sunday to drop to sixth place. It was still his fifth straight top-six finish on the PGA Tour, but McIlroy is now 0-9 in the past year converting playing in the final group on Sunday into a victory. Still, McIlroy is only looking at the positive side of getting himself into contention so often.
“People say winning is everything, and of course it is in our game. You need to win and get trophies,” he said, “but I feel like I’ve been on a journey for the last sort of six, seven months of getting back to a place where I know I can challenge to be the best player in the world and challenge in the biggest tournaments in the world like this week. So it’s just about staying patient.”
Byeong Hun An and Brian Harman are at six-under after the first round, a shot behind Fleetwood and Bradley. Tiger Woods, a week after withdrawing from Bay Hill with neck stiffness, opened with a two-under round of 70.
Fleetwood has been on the cusp of victory on the PGA Tour before, including last week. With another solid round Thursday at the Players, the time for him to get that first victory appears to be getting closer. After all, he has to keep pace with his Moliwood teammate. “Still trying to catch him up,” he said.